Fucking fuckety fucksticks.... oh, how I loathe having writers block.
I've tried all the usual suggestions, and even a few of the more unusual ones too, and while I know it's a temporary thing, because it always has been in the past, it makes it so frustrating. I just can't seem to access that creative part of my head that normally never shuts up.
Yet when I open the blank page the silence is deafening.
I can plan out a story structure, work out all the events and reactions, sort them into the order I want them, create profiles for my characters, research all the little things that provide a depth of detail that can make a difference in believability. All these things I can do, but words on the page... nothing.
I've been working on the follow-up to 'The Island', writing a short story that will cover the couple of days that Kyle, Patricia, Lakshmi, Casey and Ed are in San Antonio, and it's told from Ed's perspective. Now Ed, if you haven't read The Island, has been compared to Jonah Hill's character in Superbad and to Steve Stiffler in the American Pie movies. He's a bit like them, now that I think of it. I like to think of him as chaos incarnate, a walking profanosaurus with a gift for poor impulse control. As you can imagine, he's a lot of fun to write dialogue for.
I've got about 10,000 words of it written, and maybe another 20,000 will have the short story finished, but right now it's just not happening. Not yet. But it will. In the meantime I'll suffer the frustration, because I have little choice and I'll keep working away at it.
In order to vent that frustration, I figured I'd vent on here, because it's my blog and I can. Thanks for reading my moan.
JJ
Im curious. Nearly the whole original story was written from kyles point of view and that was something i really liked. He was quite witty and i loved how he reacted to numerous situations. What was going on in his head etc etc. So will this short story be strictly from eds pov or a mix? And will you be doing mostly kyles pov in your next part which you said would be another actual story instead of a short. All just curiosity, as i said i really liked kyles perspective. Amazing story btw.
ReplyDeleteHi Anon,
DeleteIt's going to be primarily Ed, but there'll be some Kyle too, as well as some from a new character too.
The next novel will be through Kyle's eyes though, the same as The Island.
Glad you enjoted The Island - that's always good to hear :-)
JJ
Fantastic, thats really good to hear. Cant wait for the new stuff!! Thanks again for an amazing read
ReplyDeleteThanks for your appreciation :-)
DeleteJJ
When can we expect then next story in the series? Really loved the first one.
ReplyDeleteWhen it's ready - I really can't say more than that, because I won't commit myself to a date unless it's written and edited to the point I'm happy to post it. Drop me an email though and I'll add you to the list and notify you when it comes out :-)
DeleteJJ
So you answered, when the next part of series will bi written. I don't know if you count that short story from Ed's perspective as a part of this series or not. If not, can you maybe tell us, when approximately this story will be done?
DeleteRight now I'm converting 'The Island' into an ebook. That's gonna take about another week.
DeleteThen I'll get back into the half-written short story about the weekend in San Antonio, and yes, it counts as a Threads story because it features many of the same characters.
I'm guessing if I get a good run at that, it'll take a couple of weeks to get the first draft out, maybe another week to edit and make changes, so approximately a month from now for the short story.
For the follow up novel... I'm guessing another three to six months.
Best guesstimates I can give you. Could be quicker, could be longer.
It's pointless me giving you a definitive date and time, because it only depends on when the quality of the novel reaches a level I'm happy with. If it's not there at that date and time then it's not going up.
I hope that helps explain it?
JJ
OK, one more question :) If you're converting it into an ebook, will it be available to download for free or we'll have to pay for it? Anyway, idea to have this stories in ebooks seems great :)
ReplyDeletelol... haven't decided yet. It'll probably be for sale but cheap. Like $2.99 or something, with free stories going on Lit, and larger ones maybe being published.
DeleteNot sure about all that, to be honest - I'm still working out what's possible and what's not.
Updates will appear here though, so subscribe to the blog, or check back frequently for details :-)
JJ
I finished The Island yesterday and I just have to say, "Wow." What an amazingly generous piece of literature. When this does become an e-book, which I know from experience can take a few months before it's up and running, please let us know. I will gladly purchase a copy of this book in order to support such a giving and interactive artist. Cheers to you mate.
ReplyDelete